Sarah Reygate, Make-Up Artist for the Fashion and Music Industry: “As with many of my colleagues, my work has been deeply impacted by the pandemic. A lot of work comes from Paris. If I now have to organise work contracts and visas for each trip I am likely to lose that work to local based talent in Paris. The Government needs to commit to frictionless work travel for all creatives for the UK based fashion and music industry to continue to be a world leading industry.”
Read MoreHelen Brocklebank, CEO, Walpole: “Prior to the pandemic, the British luxury sector was in rude health with a value of £48bn to the UK economy and strong annual growth of nearly 10%. Very much a British success story, the sector supported more than 160,000 jobs throughout the UK. However, international visitors to the UK are a crucial revenue driver, and the last 11 months has put severe pressure on their businesses. On top of the pandemic, the eleventh hour Brexit deal has compounded the sector's problems, making chances of swift recovery for British luxury recede compared to their European counterparts. With 42% of all British luxury export sales coming from the EU, the costs and administrative burdens of trading in continental Europe mean many of our members, not least the SME's, have concluded they simply can’t afford to continue selling to those countries.
Read MorePhotographers, stylists, make up artists (and so on) perform virtually identical roles and the sector also relies heavily on international talent. The UK fashion industry makes over 10 times what film does for the UK economy, but this is severely at risk if we are not operating on a level playing field.
Read MoreLast week, our CEO Tamara Cincik was asked by the UK government to create an informative vlog explaining the work Fashion Roundtable have been doing on PPE procurement for our NHS heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch here:
Read MoreKate Hills, Founder, Make It British: “We are working on finding all of the UK manufacturers that can switch production to provide an end-to-end solution for PPE that is made locally. Whilst the government is currently concentrating on importing these products, this is a short term solution. Once these resources dry up, which they will do as global demand increases, we will need to tap into the manufacturing base that we have in the UK. We have had amazing support from a diverse range of manufacturers and I have every confidence that the UK textile industry is able to adapt and be agile enough to cope with the challenges ahead.”
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